Five pickleball enthusiasts recently took advantage of the new courts in Arnold City Park.
The city started allowing people to use the courts during Arnold Days weekend, Sept. 18-20, at the park, which is on Bradley Beach Road off Jeffco Boulevard near the Meramec River.
“We have been playing for two years together,” said Diana Miller, 67, of Arnold. “We play two to three times a week. Every Saturday, we play indoors, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we play outdoors. We are diehards.”
On a cool, overcast morning on Sept. 24, Miller was joined by Tammy Bolen, 66, who lives in the Arnold area; Kathy Gallagher, 70, of south St. Louis County; Ken Keeven, 70, of Arnold; and Lei Morton, 52, of the Arnold area. The four were playing on one of the four courts that were built where tennis courts used to be in Arnold City Park. The group also played on the courts on Sept. 22.
“I used to play tennis here when the courts were here,” Keeven said. “I was disappointed when they kind of let those just go. Because of my bad knees, I quit playing tennis, and now with pickleball, I can continue playing. It is convenient being in Arnold. They are beautiful courts. I like them.”
Arnold Parks and Recreation Department employees began building the courts in March.
Dave Crutchley, the parks and rec director, said Arnold paid $35,000 to build the courts. He said department employees poured 6 inches of concrete over the former tennis courts, laid the pickleball court surface on top of the concrete and put a fence around the courts.
“We finished about a month behind,” he said. “We ran into a couple of problems with the weather. There was the heat, and then we hit a wet spell. That product (the court surface) does not tolerate water well at all. If it was just a little damp, it bubbles up. We had to make sure it was really dry when we put it down. It was a good learning experience. We learned a lot doing it.”
Crutchley said many people who visited the park while staff members were working on the project asked when the courts would be ready to use.
Gallagher said she was one of the people who kept track of the court’s progress and looked forward to playing in the park.
“We were looking forward to it,” she said. “It is the closest one to me. I live right across the bridge (on Lemay Ferry Road that crosses the Meramec River before the road turns into Jeffco Boulevard in Arnold).”
Miller said the group has played pickleball at the Kennedy Recreation Complex and Vetta Sports in south St. Louis County, the High Ridge Civic Center, Fenton City Park and in the gym at the First Baptist Church of Arnold.
“I love that it is close,” she said of the Arnold park’s courts. “It is probably five or six minutes from my house.”
Bolen said she is thankful the city built the courts.
“I think they are beautiful,” she said. “I like the feel of them. I like the bounce of the ball. Everything feels good on them.”
Morton said she likes that the courts are near the park’s playground.
“My kids love to play at this playground,” she said. “I could bring them out here to play on the playground, and I could play pickleball, which is great. I can do my thing, and they can do their thing. We can all have a great day.”
Crutchley said the parks and rec staff may put netting on top of the fence line on the north side of the courts. That is the side that is close to Bradley Beach Road.
“The fence is a shorter fence,” he said. “We will see if it is a problem with the ball going out in the street, and we will look at putting up a netting instead of a taller fence.”
Crutchley said the city has been contacted by some area pickleball clubs that want to use the courts for tournaments and league play, and the parks and rec staff plan to create a league.
“We have told (the clubs) after we get the courts open and up and running we could get into those talks more,” he said of possibly renting out the pickleball courts. “Parks will put something together for league play for next year in the spring. We have been talking about that since we have been building them.”
Crutchley said the city is excited that it has added the feature to the park.
“They look great,” he said. “It has gotten a lot of compliments.”